Al Jazeera reporters crash pro-Israel event

7/26/13 2:47 PM EDT

Two reporters who identified themselves as affiliated with Al Jazeera English were ejected from a convention of a pro-Israel group in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday, Christians United for Israel confirmed to POLITICO.

The Washington Free Beacon reported Friday that journalists identified as Matthew Cassel and Micah Garen were kicked out of the CUFI meeting at Washington Convention Center Tuesday evening after they were caught secretly filming events that were closed to the press and cameras. Cassel and Garen were denied press credentials and attended by purchasing full-priced tickets.

The Free Beacon reports that once confronted, Cassel left the convention with no issue, but Garen had a confrontation with convention security when they tried to confiscate his video equipment. At one point, Garen threw his memory card into a trash can outside the convention center.

"At that point, Garen is said to have lunged towards the garbage can to intercept the item, sparking a violent skirmish with multiple officers," the Free Beacon reports.

In a statement, a CUFI spokesman called the incident "unfortunate."

"To the best of our knowledge the facts as reported in the Washington Free Beacon are accurate," the spokesman said. "This was an unfortunate incident. We do hope for a more professional interaction with Al Jazeera in the future."

We've reached out to Al Jazeera, Cassel, Garen and D.C. police for comment and will update this post if and when we hear back.

Update: Gwendolyn Crump, director of communications for MPD says convention center security handled the incident. The post has been updated to reflect that.